Trump hints he may split from GOP, dooming their 2024 election chances
Former President Donald Trump has shared an article suggesting that he should run as a third-party candidate if the Republican Party doesn’t choose him as its nominee for the 2024 presidential election.
Trump shared the article, entitled “The Coming Split,” on his Truth Social page. The article asked, “What should we do when a majority of Republicans want Trump, but the Republican Party says we can’t have him?”
“The Republican machine has no intention of letting us choose Trump again,” the article stated. “He is not a uniparty team player. They’d rather lose an election to the Democrats, their brothers in crime, than win with Trump.”
The article said that Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is likely to win the Republican presidential nomination, but it refers to DeSantis’ likely nomination as a “fake non-choice among candidates who are pre-selected for us.”
“Do I think Trump can win as a third-party candidate? No. Would I vote for him as a third-party candidate? Yes,” the article stated. “Because I’m not interested in propping up this corrupt gravy-train any longer.”
It’s estimated that Trump commands at least 20 to 30 percent of the Republican voting base. If he split the Republican vote in a general election, it would all but guarantee a Democratic victory, something that the article’s writer acknowledged.
However, the article praises Trump as an “American” president rather than a “Republican” one, and says he, unlike other past presidents, delivered on his campaign promises.
Trump’s announcement of his third presidential campaign in November 2022 was met with little fanfare. Numerous Republican leaders hinted that they would prefer another candidate rather than Trump, who has continually claimed (without evidence) that an unprecedented nationwide conspiracy of voter fraud “stole” the 2020 election from him.
Other Republicans noted that the candidates endorsed by Trump in the 2022 midterm elections largely failed, helping dry up the expected Republican “red wave” to overtake the U.S. Congress. Instead, Democrats now narrowly control the Senate while Republicans rule the House with a slim margin.
Trump also hinted in 2015 that he could run as a third-party candidate if he didn’t become the GOP’s presidential nominee.